In an attempt to promoteawareness of low student-voter turnouts at elections and campus livingproblems, a group of students decided to get together and sleep outside on theYard.
Southern University students EarlAlston, Wade Curry, Shannon Ross and Ken Thompson, all natives of California,slept outside by the revene Sunday night at 11:00 until Monday morning topromote students’ interest in voting.
“Southern represents 10,000 votesand those 10,000 votes could’ve made a difference last election,” said Alston,a senior mass communications major from San Diego. The foursome was armed withsleeping tents, American flags, lawn chairs and a sign proclaiming “Vote orDie.”
“We all feel that you can’t justhand people signs or sit in the union looking pretty; you have to get out andget people’s attention and with sleeping outside we do feel like we’re gettingtheir attention,” said Ross, a senior marketing major from San Diego.
Last year, the same group of students took a dip in LakeKernan, which also received the attention of students. “We were criticizedabout jumping in the lake, so we decided to do something a little more lowkey,” Ross said.
Along with the voting initiative,the group wanted take a stand for the problems that the university is havingwith on-campus housing.
“We decide not to use theaccommodations that Southern has provided for us, because my air conditioner isbroken and my sink is broken just as well,” Ross said.
Alston also feels that theon-campus organizations need to get involved with the community.
“Everyone is doing communityservice events but not enough community service is being done,” Alston said.
The group, dedicated to helpingthe student body, is in the process of starting an organization dubbed Association for Focused Students. The students are currently looking fora sponsor.
Whilepromoting voting the students also trying to start up their own organization oncampus called Association For Focused Students, which does everything to helpthe student body. They’re currently looking for a sponsor to start up the organization.
